Why Iran's struck nuclear sites matter

2026-03-27 - 17:33

The heavy water facility in Khondab, near Arak, and a yellowcake production plant in Ardakan were attacked by Israel Friday, according to reports on social media and official statements from Iranian authorities. The Arak facility is part of the nuclear reactor complex that was already damaged in Israeli strikes during the "12-Day War." The yellowcake plant is located about 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of the city of Ardakan, in Yazd province. At the center of the Khondab facility, near Arak, is a heavy water reactor located about 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Tehran. The reactor can be used to produce plutonium of a grade sufficient for a nuclear weapon, an alternative path to a bomb that does not require uranium enrichment, similar to reactors in Syria and Iraq that were attacked by Israel. Iran has said the reactor is used for research and for producing isotopes for medical purposes. Under the 2015 nuclear agreement, Iran committed to redesigning the reactor and filling its core with concrete so it could not be used for military purposes. But it was later reported that Tehran had worked to preserve the option of returning it to its original design. The reactor was attacked during the war in June, and satellite images since then have shown major damage to its dome. According to Iranian media, it was attacked today in two waves. Authorities said no casualties were reported and that no dangerous radiation was detected in the area. Media personnel and senior regime officials at the heavy water plant in Arak. Photo: Reuters The Ardakan plant, named after nuclear scientist Dariush Rezaeinejad, who was assassinated in Tehran in 2011, is located about 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of the city of Ardakan in Yazd province. The facility processes uranium ore mined at the nearby Saghand mine and produces yellowcake, a raw uranium powder that serves as an intermediate stage in the enrichment process. The powder is then converted into gas that is used as feedstock for uranium-enrichment centrifuges. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the plant has a production capacity of about 50 tons of uranium a year. Unlike the Khondab facility, Ardakan was not attacked during the June 2025 war. Iranian authorities said no casualties were reported and that no radioactive material had leaked outside the compound. Strikes on the steel industry Earlier in the evening, Iran's largest steel plants were attacked, including the main complex of Mobarakeh Steel in Isfahan and another plant in Ahvaz. At the same time, a quarry belonging to a cement plant in Firuzabad was also attacked. Iranian authorities reported three people killed and four wounded. Destruction in Iran after an Israeli Air Force strike. Photo: AP According to the Fars News Agency, the strike on the Mobarakeh plant targeted a power station and a steel production line. The security commissioner of Isfahan province said one worker was killed and two were wounded, adding that "the attack was carried out while the plant was not closed and workers were at their posts." It is the largest steel company in the Middle East and North Africa, according to the US Treasury Department, and operates seven industrial sites across Iran. The largest of them is the complex attacked today in Isfahan. The company is responsible for about 1% of Iran's GDP and more than half of the country's steel production. The list of targets for retaliation published by the Iranians following the attack on the steel plants Iran threatens attacks on similar plants in the Gulf According to Iranian media, company warehouses were hit at the Khuzestan steel plant in Ahvaz. It is Iran's second-largest steel producer after Mobarakeh. No casualties were reported. The military commissioner of Fars province said a quarry belonging to a cement plant in Firuzabad was attacked around noon. Two workers were killed and two were wounded. The commissioner said it was a "non-military area" used by civilian workers. In response to the strikes, the Tasnim News Agency, which is close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported and published a list of targets for retaliatory attacks: steel plants in Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. The Revolutionary Guards also warned all employees at industrial companies with American ownership in the region to evacuate their workplaces "immediately."